A Light in the Darkness
by FaithInHim4ever
Summary: I never thought this day would come. But now that it has, I'm scared to face tomorrow. But luckily, Katara is my light in the darkness. RR with kindness


DISCLAIMER I DO NOT own any of the characters from Avatar. They belong to Nick. I do however own the nicknames in this story.

May the light of God shine upon everyone and keep them safe as well as the power of water be with everyone always

Lauren

"A Light in the Darkness"

It had just been a normal day for the small family. They had traveled outside of Bah Sing Sei and were now heading for the fire nation.

As Katara sat atop Appa, she stroked the byson's head gently. She loved Appa and she enjoyed giving him attention.

"You're such a sweet boy, yes you are. And Katara loves you, yes I do."

Appa groaned with contentment as Katara continued to stroke his fur.

Sokka gave Katara a look and made a noise as though he were going to lose his lunch.

Katara ignored him as she steered Appa towards the next town. They needed to find a place to sleep for the night.

As Katara looked back in the saddle, she realized that Toph was squinting a little bit. It was like she was trying to see something that wasn't there. Katara found this strange, due to the fact that Toph was blind and could only see via earthbending.

"Toph, are you okay, kiddo?" Katara asked, using her nickname for Toph.

Toph snapped out of her daze and nodded in the direction of Katara's voice.

"Yeah. I'm fine. Just tired I guess."

"Well why don't you lay down and try and sleep," Katara suggested. "It's going to be at least another hour before we get to Sahan Laung." She told her ,referring to the town they were heading for.

"You don't have to tell me twice," Sokka commented, lying down in his sleeping bag.

Katara rolled her eyes at her brother before turning her attention back to Appa.

Toph nodded and made like she was going to lie down. She wasn't tired, but she was very nervous. She had been feeling weird vibrations all day and now she was starting to get cracked vibration signals. This wasn't good and Toph feared what it meant. She knew what it could possibly mean, but she didn't want to believe it. She had always been able to see with earthbending and she couldn't imagine her life without it. Earthbending was her only source of sight and without being able to feel the vibrations in the earth, Toph would be completely blind.

When the gang landed some two hours later, Katara woke Sokka up with a water whip to his head. She giggled as she watched him shake the water out of his now drenched shirt. After she was sure that Sokka was awake, Katara proceeded to wake Toph up.

As Katara nudged Toph awake, the earthbending master tried to swat her hand away, but it was no use. She opened her glassy emerald eyes and yawned.

"Tara, are we there yet?" Toph asked, sitting up and trying to gage where they were.

"Yup. We need to get camp set up. Come on." She put her hand on Toph's shoulder and helped her off Appa.

Once on the ground, Toph let go of Katara's elbow and went to help Sokka with the sleeping bags. But as Toph took a step forward, she stopped. She couldn't' feel a thing. Not a single vibration was coming out of the ground.

Toph's blood ran cold and she started feeling sick. She tried her best to stay calm, but it wasn't working. As Toph tried to regain her senses and composure, she failed miserably. She fell to her knees, and touched the earth beneath her, trying to sense anything. Any vibration at all, but she couldn't.

"Toph, are you okay?" Katara asked, coming over to see what was keeping her sister.

"Yeah. I'm fine." Toph said, trying to keep the tremble out of her voice. "I just felt a little dizzy from landing, that's all."

Katara nodded and let Toph take her elbow. She didn't' question it and led Toph over to the camp site. She set her down in front of the fire and Toph proceeded to help Katara make dinner. Toph would hand Katara ingredients whenever she needed them. Katara would ask her for something and Toph would hold her hand out with the ingredient in it.

During dinner, Toph was glad that her fear hadn't shown. She was hoping to keep the scare to herself for as long as she could. But she knew it wouldn't last long. Katara was sure to find out and when she did, Toph knew her older sister would want to help her.

Dinner went by without a hitch and the kids cleaned up as usual.

After dinner was over, Sokka suggested that they tell water tribe legends, or elemental legends to pass the time. The others agreed and Katara went first.

After an hour and a half of this, Aang yawned, followed by Katara and then Toph. Katara suggested that everyone get some sleep.

Sokka didn't complain and was asleep in minutes.

Toph, however, couldn't fall asleep. Even after Katara had sung to her and patted her for a few minutes, she still couldn't drift off. She had pretended to be asleep for Katara's benefit. She wanted her older sister to get some much needed rest and Toph knew that if Katara thought something was wrong with her, Toph, she wouldn't fall asleep for the rest of the night.

But as Toph lay there, she kept running over the same thought in her head.

'What if I am losing my ability to see through earthbending? What will I do then?

Toph didn't want to entertain that thought. It was too scary and unbelievable for her to fathom. She knew since she was ten that there might come a day when she couldn't see a thing and nobody would be able to do anything to bring her ability back. But Toph always thought that day would be in the near future, or more likely not come at all. But now, Toph was soon finding out how wrong she was.

Toph woke up in a cold sweat. She gazed around, trying to gage where she was. As she listened to the sounds around her, she realized that she was in her tent. She could hear Sokka snoring to her right and Katara softly breathing to her left. The latter was a comfort to hear.

But as Toph felt the ground beneath her, she realized to her horror that she couldn't' feel a thing. No vibrations came at all.

Toph tried in vein to see with earthbending for the next five minutes. She concentrated with all her might, but still nothing came of it.

As the realization of what had happened sank in, Toph felt tears of fear come to her eyes. She then let out a scream of fear that ran out clear as a bell throughout the whole camp site.

Katara heard it before she was even able to sit up and become fully awake. The scream was full of fear and Katara knew who had let it out.

"Toph!" Katara said, in a loud whisper so that she wouldn't wake Sokka or Aang. "Toph, it's okay. What's wrong? Did you have a bad dream?"

Toph heard the voice and tried her hardest to feel where Katara was, but to her growing fear, she couldn't feel a single vibration. She couldn't' tell where her sister was.

"Ka-Katara?" Toph asked, her voice full of fear and unshed tears. "Katara!"

"Toph, it's okay, I'm right here, kiddo. Katara's right here. It's all right. You're okay." Katara reached out and took Toph into her arms. She figured the blind bandit was still worked up from the bad dream she had experienced, and there fore, she was unable to sense where she was. But little did Katara know what the real reason was.

As Toph felt Katara pull her close ,she clung to her like her world was coming to an end. She buried her face in Katara's shoulder and let out a shuddering sob.

"Toph? Toph, it's okay. It's all right. I'm right here. I have you. Your big sister's right here. You're safe, sweetie. Do you want to talk about your nightmare?"

Toph whimpered, her fingernails digging into Katara's skin.

"Toph, it's okay. I have you. You're all right. Come on. You're bunking with me tonight."

Toph felt a flood of relief sweep through her. She didn't want to be alone and she would rather be with her protector right now than anyone else. She knew while Katara couldn't stop this from happening, she could at least offer her some comfort and help the fear and pain ease a little bit.

"There you go," Katara said, tucking Toph in beside her. As Katara released Toph to get herself situated, Toph grabbed her arm, not wanting Katara to leave. Toph, it's okay. I'm not going anywhere. I just need to get myself situated. It's okay."

Toph nodded, but she didn't relinquish her hold. In fact, her hold got tighter.

Katara sighed and put off getting situated for now. She took Toph into her arms and held her close. She planted a kiss on Toph's head and started stroking her cheek like her mother used to do for her whenever she was upset or not feeling good.

"All right, kiddo, what's up? What's gotten you so scared?"

Toph took a deep breath as she groped in the darkness for Katara's hand. She had never had to do that before. She was always able to sense where Katara or anyone was, but now she couldn't.

Katara sensed what Toph wanted and reached her hand out to Toph once the earthbender was laying in her lap. Katara knew some cuddle time was in order and she had a feeling that something was very wrong now. Toph never had trouble sensing where anyone was before.

"Toph? Come on, honey, tell me what's wrong. I want to help you, but I can't if you won't talk to me."

"I can't see." Toph replied, her voice barely audible.

Katara was confused at first, but then it hit her. The reason Toph had freaked out when she, Katara, had moved. The reason for Toph's clinginess for the past few minutes. It all started to make sense now.

"When did this start?" Katara asked, starting to pat Toph's shoulder.

Toph's reply came out in a whimper, but Katara heard it all the same.

"When I woke up a few minutes ago."

Katara nodded. She realized something else just then. Toph wasn't having a nightmare. The nightmare was just beginning.

As the pieces started coming together for the waterbending master, she tried to fight back tears. She hated seeing anyone she loved in pain and she wanted more than anything to help Toph, but she knew she could only offer her comfort and pray that it would be enough.

Katara was pulled out of her thoughts by Toph whimpering.

"Toph, shh, it's okay. It's all right. Just cry it out. It's all right. I'm right here. I'm right here and I have you. You're going to be okay. I'm here and I'm not going anywhere. I promise."

"I'm scared!" Toph admitted, her face stained with tears as she buried it in Katara's stomach. "I can't see anything!"

"I know, Toph, I know. I'm going to try and help you. I promise. I'm going to help you through this. Aang and Sokka will too. I know it. Your family's here for you, kiddo. We're all here for you."

Toph cried herself to sleep that night. She fell asleep in the safest place she knew-Katara's lap. She was still really scared, but she was where she belonged and that's all that mattered at the moment. The rest would fall into place.

Katara sat there, long after Toph had fallen asleep. She didn't' dare move, for fear of waking Toph. She knew her little sister needed all the rest she could get. The days ahead were going to be tough, but Katara was determined to help Toph through them.

"I promise you," Katara told a now sleeping Toph. "I'm going to help you, sis. I'm going to help you through this. I'll always be here for you. You never have to worry about facing the darkness alone, because you won't. I'll do everything I can to make things as easy as they can be. I love you, Toph." With that, Katara planted a sisterly kiss on Toph's cheek and tried her best to fall asleep. She needed her rest as well.

THE End

A/N: I hope everyone learned something from this story and I hope everyone will review with kindness. And if I wrote Toph a little ooc, I'm sorry. But that is the way I feel about my visual impairment and my situation. The reality is one day, I will wake up and not be able to see a thing. I'm afraid of that day, but at the same time, I can't wait for it to come. The reason I can't wait for it is because once I can't see anything anymore, is when I'll truly be able to see the world in all its beauty that God created.

When people ask me how I feel about being visually impaired, I tell them that it's a blessing in disguise. I may not be able to see like other people, but I can see where others cannot. I can see where it really counts. And that's with my heart. And seeing with my heart is a lot better than seeing with my eyes. Still, there is that longing in my heart to see like everyone else just for one day. To be able to rely on me and only me to see things. And not people's descriptions of things to make them real. I long for that day every night I go to sleep and every morning when I wake up. But then I remember the benefit I have in seeing the way that I do. And I know God created me this way for a reason. He has a plan for me and that's all that matters.


End file.
